Saturday, February 11, 2012

On June 29th at about 2 AM I woke up, and got out of bed to go to the bathroom (typical night for a 9 month pregnant person). I was immediately frozen by an incredibly painful contraction. Whatever noise I made caused Brian to leap out of bed in alarm. Being 3 weeks before my scheduled c-section I was not at all prepared for a trip to the hospital, so between contractions while we tried to get in touch with a neighbor and the doctor so we could head to the hospital, I moved slowly around the room trying to gather things for my hospital bag. (Notable quote from Brian, "a camera? who cares about a camera - we don't need that!") These were not small contractions, they were stop in your tracks, bend over, and breathe through the pain contractions. Within about a half hour our neighbor had arrived at the door, and we were off to the hospital. After trying a variety of things to unsuccessfully stop the labor, the doctor decided it was too risky to send me home even though the contractions had diminished in pain and intensity, and it was time for this baby to arrive. We made a few quick phone calls and text messages to let people know as the hospital staff worked to get me ready for surgery. At 6:44 AM Jacqueline Grace arrived weighing 6 pounds 13 ounces and perfect in every way. She came out screaming - apparently she wasn't any too happy about the early arrival. Brian and Jackie moved to recovery where he was able to call and talk to Ben and Claire to give them the news before they headed off to baseball and soccer camps while the doctors finished closing me up. After I joined them we made more phone calls to friends and family. We both wanted Ben and Claire to be the first people to meet Jackie, and we were grateful to our families for understanding and planning their visits accordingly. My parents who had just gotten back to their house (they'd been visiting us and helping us get ready for the construction on our house) at 4 PM the previous day had turned around and headed back north where they picked the kids up from their respective camps and brought them to the hospital. Some pictures from our day are below.

What is this place? It's so bright and cold!

Rocking the post-bath turban. She still has that little pink mark between her eyebrows if you look closely.

Warm and clean.

A big yawn from a tired little baby.

Meeting Ben and Claire - this picture is so indicative of their relationship the first few weeks. Claire standing back and smiling at her sister, and Ben unable to resist touching her.

Mommy and her three babies.

(note Claire's black eye - she got kicked in the face her first day at soccer camp, but it didn't phase her - she was not afraid to get right in the thick of things even against boys almost twice her size!)

Our first family picture

By 9 PM both Mommy and baby were ready for some quiet snuggle time

Since Jackie's arrival I feel like our family has been going non-stop (which is perhaps, why it took me over 7 months to post this). However, while we are now very busy, we are even more incredibly happy and blessed!